By Elle Miranda | December 9, 2024
This academic year's first State of the School Address (SOSA) was delivered on December 3, 2024, at Saint Joseph Hall (SJH) Academic Hall.
The Nexus organizes SOSA twice a year to provide transparency within the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) student institutions, namely the College Student Council of the School of Arts and Sciences (CSC-SAS), Holy Angel University Psychology Society (HAU PsychSoc), and the Communicators' League (CL). The event allows organizations to report their accomplishments, financial updates, and future plans while addressing challenges. At the same time, it is for students to voice their concerns and suggestions.
Panelists, including Carmela Lumanlan, Head Photojournalist of The Nexus, the SAS publication; Dhessiel Heart Macapagal, Associate Editor for Internal Affairs of The Enterprise, the School of Business and Accountancy (SBA) publication; and Daniella Quevedo, Editor-in-Chief of The Lifeline, the School of Nursing and Allied Medical Sciences (SNAMS) publication, and students engaged presenters with questions following the reports.
In an exclusive interview, Quevedo specifically said she sought transparency as a criterion.
"I'm just looking for transparency. The fact that they were able to answer the questions presented to them—that's a big fact to me that affected how I was judging their answers […] they performed naman and met this criteria I was looking for," Quevedo stated.
Quevedo further urged the presenters to absorb and digest the panelists' suggestions, considering the points made for each specific organization.
On the CommLeague's accomplishment report, they had centered their events on the freshmen, which was noticed by the panelists. When asked about their plans for upperclassmen, they said they are organizing events for them for the second semester, including CL Days, #IAmReal Campaign, Commvention 2025, and more. Meanwhile, the HAU PsychSoc was questioned about funding their events with a budget of voluntary membership fees, the delayed release of the membership cards, and merchandise queries. Upon answering, they revealed that the delays were caused by the supplier causing it to set back from the supposed October release, now distributed in late November.
Among the event's highlights was the CSC-SAS, which received the most questions from the panelists and the students.
The professionalism of the council was questioned when a controversial event from their first semester live Press Conference was raised. This was live-streamed through their official Facebook page, and at the timestamp of 49:50, a council member seemed to forget to mute their device when the audience heard them saying, "Hipak ka muna, hipak ka muna," pertaining to the use of e-cigarettes. After being brought up, Alexis Jan Delfin, the CSC-SAS Governor, admitted she was the person in question. She reasoned she was unaware of being unmuted due to her unfamiliarity with the use of live videos on Facebook and would refrain from such actions if she knew.
"Ang disappointing lang kasi nga formal setting 'yon tapos maririnig mo 'yon. Na-affect yung image ng CSC-SAS, parang na-down yung image nila dahil sa nangyari," a first-year Psychology student expressed his disappointment after witnessing what he called an “unmindful act.”
Another critique is the SAS Days shirt design, which some deemed a "lack of creativity," drawing mixed reactions from the council and the audiences.
"I just didn't appreciate na parang nadi-discredit yung effort ng junior officer namin [...] if constructive criticism kasi, they could've worded it a better way if meron silang suggestions," Delfin expressed in response to the students’ critiques.
Delfin also encouraged students to be more proactive in communicating their suggestions to the council so that changes could be made in real-time.
"Reach out if meron kayong suggestions; our Messenger is always open for your messages. There are other platforms to raise your concerns or suggestions," Delfin added.
While some students used SOSA to express concerns, others have seen it as a platform for broader things. In particular, another first-year Psychology student saw the event's relevance to their department, noting the transparency and leadership of student institutions.
"We may receive more support now, compared to what we had to go through back during SAS days and other events na talagang kapos tayo sa funding and participation […] I hope this event can help prove the SAS department is relevant enough to be given enough support," the student said, expressing optimism.
Photo courtesy of Tomas Quevedo
Comments